Ant Middleton says need to strengthen British culture amid ‘civil unrest’ fear

The former SAS: Who Dares Wins star made the remarks at Reform UK’s party conference in Birmingham.

Ant Middleton speaks at the Reform UK party’s annual conference at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. Picture date: Friday September 20, 2024 (Joe Giddens/PA) (PA Wire)

Ant Middleton has suggested the UK is on the brink of “civil unrest” unless action is taken to put British culture at the “forefront of everything”.

The former SAS: Who Dares Wins star said “we haven’t got a secure camp” as he likened his work on the television show to the need to address border security.

He said an “umbrella identity of British culture” is needed to ensure there are “rules and regulations which everyone needs to adhere to” and prevent division.

Middleton also offered his support to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK as he spoke at the party’s conference in Birmingham.

The former soldier said he stripped down “broken people” on the television show so they could identify who they are before being rebuilt to “achieve” things in the world.

He added no one comes into his camp “unless they benefit the environment” or the individuals within it.

Addressing the border, Middleton said he was “almost disgusted” that the Royal Navy “are being put on the back burner, not allowed to do their jobs” of protecting UK waters.

He said: “We haven’t got a secure camp because we don’t know who’s coming in. They’re certainly not benefitting the environment, they’re certainly not adhering to the rules and regulations and they’re certainly not benefitting us as a nation.

“Now, interpret that as you will, let’s say that’s the border, I don’t want to get in too much trouble and be cancelled again.”

After speaking about the role of identity in his approach to rebuilding people, Middleton said: “What’s British identity? British culture. What’s British culture? British history.

“So why is that being eradicated? Why is that being trampled all over? Why aren’t we allowed to be the umbrella culture of this country?”

The next step is going to be a lot worse unless we get a grip of it right now. We need to revert back to the basics

Ant Middleton

Mr Middleton went on to highlight the role of Christian values in the UK’s history, saying: “Those values have worked for years, centuries and centuries, to get us where we are today.

“The moment we lose our identity, guess what we lose? Our purpose, our focus, our direction. What happens when we don’t have an identity? We get confused.”

He said he lost his identity and got confused after leaving the military, saying: “When you have a nation of confused people, guess what happens after? Frustration. You get frustrated, very much like the individual.

“What happens after frustration? Anger, violence. What’s happening on our streets right now? Violence.

“We are at a very, very important and crucial stage before it teeters into civil unrest, which we want to avoid at all costs, but it’s coming, we’re on that edge where violence has hit the streets, we’ve all seen it, I don’t need to mention what it is, we’ve all seen it.”

Mr Middleton pointed to knife and gun crime, saying: “Talk about that second layer of security, which is the community, non-existent.

“Do you know why? Because we’ve got a non-existent security on the borders.”

He added: “The next step is going to be a lot worse unless we get a grip of it right now. We need to revert back to the basics.

“Let’s strip everything down, back to the basics – identity. We need the umbrella identity of British culture. British culture needs to be at the forefront of everything.

“By all means come in, practise your culture, we’re accepting, but we need an umbrella culture, we need that identity because then we have our rules and regulations which everyone needs to adhere to.

“That way it stops double standards. And what do double standards create? Again this is military tactics 101, it creates division.”

As he offered his support to Mr Farage’s party, one person in the audience shouted for Middleton to “sort the military out yourself”.

Middleton joked: “I will sort the military out myself, don’t worry about that.”

In 2021, Channel 4 said it would not work with Middleton again on SAS: Who Dares Wins following discussions with the adventurer over his “personal conduct”.

He faced a backlash in 2020 over comments he made about the Black Lives Matter protests and coronavirus.

Middleton said at the time he had “decided it’s time to move on from SAS Who Dares Wins UK”.